Opening Notes: There may or may not be a hint for a new story popping up on Nomad-117's profile in the near future, (on Fanfiction Net whereas it'll likely pop up on my AO3 account since he doesn't have one), in this chapter of ACIS. It also may not be so subtle lol. Jokes aside, enjoy this latest case of everyone's dream team, plus one with my Malcolm Reynolds inspired turian Cabal by the name of Dax. See ya!


Artifice Part 1


Earth, USA, Washington

Washington D.C., The Twins Jazz Club

March 7th, 2195, 7:00 PM

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the grand reopening of the Twins Jazz Club." The announcer's smile was infectious as the small crowd of about sixty five, which was the maximum the club could hold comfortably, cheered and applauded before falling silent. Being one of the oldest clubs in the city, everything had been rebuilt since the war using old wood furnishings and comfortable, soft colored leather where it was appropriate. The bar was similarly a long piece of beautifully stained oak, and the area behind it were also wooden shelves of long rows of multicolored glass. The audience itself were dressed in fancy dresses and three piece suits and ties. The announcer was no different, dressed in a black suit, a red tie, and suede black dance shoes as he waved a hand towards the live jazz band and said, "We got a real nice treat for you fine folks tonight. All the way from Sirona, just within the Ursa Major cluster, ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for our very own Cerulean Jazz Group!" Stepping back to more applause, the well dressed announcer beamed at the lead singer, an asari he only knew as Adri, stepped forward. The energetic five man saxophone introduction, preceded shortly by someone working an electric keyboard nearby, was met with a round of boisterous cheers as the beaming Adri waited for her cue to start singing.

Systems Alliance Colonel Elliot Mann sighed as he fumbled for the engagement ring in his suit's vest pocket. Meeting Adri's eye from their table near the front of the stage, he smiled widely, flashing a mouthful of pearly whites as he took in the asari's beautiful black dress that was held up by two straps that covered her blue skinned shoulders, her slender neck covered by a black, lacy ascot. When she met his gaze, her lips pulled up into a grin for just a moment without missing a note.

"You'll never see it coming! You'll see that my mind is too fast for eyes You're done in. By the time it's hit you, your last surprise." Adri belted out as he and the rest of the crowd drank in every word, although Elliot was more fixated on the soft sway of her hips as his hopeful fiance got into the rhythm and energy of the moment. After her show tonight, he fully intended to pop the question, but that was for later. Right then, he was more worried about working up the nerve to ask for her hand in the first place as he waved down a passing waitress.

"Big night tonight?" She asked, another asari that was even prettier than Adri, but Elliot wasn't interested as he smiled and nodded.

His nervousness must have been apparent, but he was glad for a chance to talk, even if it were only for a few seconds. "Yeah, you could say that." He replied before putting the little red velvet box on the table just long enough for her to get the message before putting it back into his suit.

"Who's the lucky lady?" The asari asked, keenly interested once she put two and two together.

"She's on stage right now." Elliot replied and nodded towards Adri, his smile widening a little at having a reason to brag good naturedly.

"Lucky bastard. Wish I had a guy like you in my life." Elliot just chuckled, grinned, and ordered a Serrice Ice Brandy to commemorate the occasion. "Good choice and good luck."

"Goddess willing I won't need it." The waitress was surprised a human would invoke the goddess's name, but Elliot merely smiled a little wider and shrugged before she left to get his order.

No sooner than she left that the window that was just behind Elliot's seat shattered in an explosive shower of razor sharp shrapnel into the club. He was just able to duck and avoid the worst of it. Looking up as the crowd gasped and shouted in alarm, Elliot recoiled with a cry about the same time the live band came to a screeching halt. Staring back at him, unblinkingly, was the body of a salarian, her head hanging off the edge of the table. Clutched in her hand were a pair of dog tags, Alliance issue or he was still a greenhorn.

Judging by the look of surprise on her frog like face, her big green eyes opened wide in shock, she'd never seen it coming….


Earth, USA, Washington

Washington D.C., The Twins Jazz Club

March 7th, 2195, 7:21 PM

"I'm surprised this place is still standing." Tony mused as he took in the jazz club's facade as he followed Ziva, McGee, and Gibbs through the front doors. "Last time I came out this way was when I was still undercover for our Director Shepard."

"This was supposed to be the Twins' grand reopening, it was a packed house according to witnesses." McGee replied as he and Tony were soon standing around the dead salarian. A quick glance at the woman revealed a great deal to the probie. "No sign of struggle from what I can see, she was taken by surprise. Any idea how she came to be thrown through a plate glass window?"

"That's what we're here to figure out McGee." Ziva intoned as she and McGee took pictures while Tony sketched out the scene of the crime. Dax meanwhile had the unenviable job of carrying the crew's equipment to the scene. "Need a hand?" Ziva asked, more to playfully poke at him than anything.

The turian chuckled dryly, knowing he was being 'hazed', to coin a human phrase as he dropped their assorted luggage onto a nearby table a short distance away from the crime scene itself. "Nah I got it, thanks. Not the first time I've been at the bottom of the barrel like this, just keep in mind I ain't gonna be doin' this forever."

"And what's that?" Ziva asked despite knowing exactly what Dax was going to say.

"Being your folks' pack mule. I might be big and burly David, but I'm a big ol' softie underneath this ruggedly handsome face." Dax waved his finger around the edge of his face for emphasis before Gibbs shoved a pair of synth gloves into his lightly armored chest. "Not my first rodeo ya know, but at least you got my size right."

"You're certainly more manly than our McProbie here Dax." Tony chimed in while shooting a slightly annoyed McGee a winning grin over his sketchpad.

"How come you aren't treating Dax the same way you treated me when I was the new guy?" McGee grumbled with a roll of his eyes as he stepped aside for Gibbs to get a closer look at their victim.

"Because he can kill me with his brain, whereas you regularly kill me with your geekdom, Elf Lord." Tony replied without a second thought, flashing Dax a toothy smirk that had the turian chuckling while McGee was left to grumble under his breath. Using the pen in his hand to gingerly lift the dog tags so he could attempt to read what was written on their surface, Tony raised an eyebrow when all he saw was a blackened, heavily scarred surface. "No name, only a partial number, looks like they've seen a lot of action. I doubt they're hers though boss." He dropped them in a hurry when the tags shot out a small spark in his face and he very nearly fell back into the table behind him. "Yeesh! Things are still live. Must be one of those you can stick into a computer to get the info off of to help in identification. Never seen a pair up close, but still a useful trick when it works. Some of the damage might be fresh, but I still think they don't belong to our froggie friend here."

"What makes you say that DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, despite having already figured out the same thing.

"Well for one, I'd say they're Alliance issue. And no offense to our dead friend here, but she looks a bit too frail and lean to be the soldier type." A short snort from Ziva had Tony wondering if he should have kept his mouth shut. "That wasn't a crack about women serving in the armed forces or anything Ziva. 'Sides, you're pretty lean but we all know you're a-"

"Got something." McGee's interruption was well received by the floundering DiNozzo as their tech expert pulled what looked like a small metallic insignia attached to a piece of black leather from the salarian's pants pocket. "Looks like a security badge, possibly belongs to wherever she worked at."

"Tag and bag McGee. ID?" Gibbs asked without looking away from the salarian's face.

"None that I could find. Her omni-tool's missing too which means I can't gain access to any of her information from here."

"You assume that she had one." Tony muttered as he glanced towards the asari in a black dress as she clung to a nearby human's arm while another officer asked them questions.

"Everyone has one DiNozzo." Dax replied, pulling the man back to the dead salarian between them while McGee went to secure the security footage from the club. "Hell, even Gibbs has one and I've heard him and tech have a hate/hate relationship."

"Don't have an idiot box in my basement anymore at least." Walking past Tony just as the officer left the pair near the stage, Gibbs, without looking at those gathered around the salarian, said, "Just make sure Ducky gets the body before the local LEOs do, or you'll be walking home." Leaving them to secure and bag any more evidence they could get their hands on, Gibbs walked up to the mismatched pair on the stage with the full intent of talking to them himself.

Approaching the young, blonde man at her side, Gibbs couldn't help but notice something strange pass through the asari's gaze as she grabbed his arm just a little tighter while ever so slightly putting herself between them. It wasn't unusual, given the fact he was a naval cop, few people that knew them liked having ACIS around since they were essentially the Internal Affairs of the navy, but he couldn't help but wonder if there was more to it than that. "ACIS, Special Agent Gibbs. I hear you had quite an eventful night." He stated neutrally, while pulling up the notation program on his omni-tool.

"If you're talking about the dead salarian over there that decided to take a header through the side window, then yeah, I'd say we're having an eventful night." The asari spoke up first, but she had begun to relax at least as Elliot got his arm free, reached around, and put a hand on the small of her back.

A silent, if gentle, chastising look from Elliot to the woman on his arm had Adri blushing as she muttered an apology. Gibbs didn't comment on it since he understood how upsetting something like this could be even as Elliot said, "You'll have to forgive Adri. The last time we had trouble like this was-"

"Nine years ago. Yeah, I've heard that a lot." Gibbs finished for him as a light, wry laugh escaped him. "Still gonna need to ask you a few questions."

"We'll cooperate, Agent Gibbs, just don't expect me to like it." Adri muttered but sighed as she let go of Elliot's arm before putting a hand up to her temples. "Tonight was going so well too. I'm sorry she died, I really am, but this will likely throw my entire tour into disarray once word gets back to the group's manager. The asshole wouldn't know decency if it came up and kicked him in the ass."

"Not important right now hun." Elliot said from the corner of his mouth before nodding his head towards Gibbs. "What do you need Agent Gibbs?"

"Just to know what you were doing, if you knew the victim. Says here you're a Colonel." He said as he brought up Elliot's personal profile.

"Retired, like many ground pounders, but yeah, I was enjoying the show that my gi- my friend here was putting on. Adri's the lead singer for the Cerulean Jazz Group that's been on tour for the better part of a month now. We still have several stops between here and Rannoch before we go back home for the season. And no Agent Gibbs, I've never seen that salarian before in my life." Elliot replied, but Gibbs had noticed the slip of the tongue.

So had Adri as her cheeks turned several shades darker but the little warm smile on her face told a story on its own. "No need to get possessive Elliot, or to beat around the bush for that matter. Yes we're a couple Agent Gibbs, but last I knew, that wasn't a crime."

"Oh it's not." Gibbs mused as he looked up much more intently towards the pair. "But you're gonna want to put any travel plans on hold until we get to the bottom of this." It wasn't a suggestion, and Elliot was quick to give his understandably moody girlfriend a look that said to just let it go. "Have a way I can reach you if I have anymore questions?"

"Yeah." Elliot replied as he transferred his contact information to Gibbs' omni-tool. "We're staying at the hotel just down the road until the next show, which'll be on the Mars colony in a few days. I hope you're able to get this mess sorted out before then Agent Gibbs."

"Or you'll likely be speaking to my lawyer." Adri finished with an angry huff, but Gibbs wasn't phased by the threat as he walked away from the pair. He'd heard far worse from far scarier people than her.

It was about that time that Ducky and Hamu arrived as Tony and Ziva cleared a path to the table for the two MEs to get a look at the woman. "Ah here we are. And what a sight we have today. She looks to be in the late stages of her people's lifespan, which would put her at about forty-five, fifty at the most. It's quite fascinating actually, to meet such a short lived species as the salarians, and yet despite that, they've achieved so much given their unusually high intellects and the drive to match." With a groan, Ducky leaned over as Hamu handed over the liver probe.

"You still use that old thing doc?" Dax asked, intensely curious as he leaned forward to see what Ducky was doing.

"I prefer the old, tried and true methods when doing my preliminary examinations, Daxio." Ducky replied as his lips pulled up into a happy little grin at having someone to talk to that seemed genuinely interested in what he had to say. "Ah, seems to me like our friend here hasn't been dead long. About three, four hours tops." He mused as he extracted the long, sharp ended implement once it had given him a temperature. "Let's get her turned over shall we?"

With Hamu's assistance, they gingerly rolled the salarian onto her side, where they saw the back of her head had been caved in, leaving the back of her head a bloody, pulpy mess. "Cause of death Duck?" Gibbs asked, much to Ducky's slight annoyance.

"Hmph. I only just got here Jethro, I'm good but I'm not that good. But at a glance, yes, I'd say this single, powerful blow to the back of the head was what did it, but I'd have to get her back home to be sure. Look here." Gibbs leaned in close as Ducky pointed to the two large, if short, horns on the top of the salarian's head. The slight discoloration at the base of one, told Ducky more of how she'd perished. "If I were to make an educated guess, I'd wager someone grabbed her from behind before delivering the fatal blow. It's not so dissimilar to how someone would take out an enemy sentry, except in this case, I believe our killer might be a biotic."

"That rules out three fourths of the galaxy Duck." Tony chimed in as he glanced up from his notepad. "Not counting the asari who are all naturally gifted with the skill to crush people with their pinkies."

"You're forgettin' yours truly, DiNozzo." Dax said as he pointed to himself with one long, taloned finger. "True, most turians don't have biotics, but there's still more of us out there than people realize, wanderin' around, tryin' to find a place to call theirs. There was this one gal on Omega that used to work for Aria T'Loak back in the day and sh-"

"What makes you say that Ducky?" Gibbs asked, both to get the team back to the task at hand but also to find out what it was that had led Ducky to his conclusion.

Glad for the slight interruption, Ducky happily picked up where he'd left off. "Yes, as I was saying, the hole isn't big enough for your typical baseball bat or any other blunt object that I could think of, and from what I can see, beyond the postmortem cuts from her fall through the window, there is no visible evidence or signs of the typical injuries one would expect from being hit with a blunt object."

"You're right Doctor Mallard." Hamu said softly as he gestured to the grisly sight in front of them. A closer look to what passed for the salarian's ears showed that there was more than a little blood oozing out of both auditory analogues. "I've only seen wounds like this when biotics were involved. This one came up from behind, secured her head by the horn which would explain the bruising at the base, and then drove their fist through the back of her skull. She'd have likely died instantly on impact since the closest approximation I can think of would be like being on the receiving end of a shotgun blast at close range, except there's no exit wound in this case. It's a focused blast of a different sort, one that would be significantly dampened by the density of the skull and the gray matter itself, but not near enough to save her life as the energy dissipated outward through her ears and out her nose and eyes. It wouldn't surprise me if we found dried up blood in her nasal cavities as well as a liquified mess behind her large eyes."

"Suddenly I'm very glad we have our own." DiNozzo said as he glanced towards Dax who chose that moment to cross his long arms and cock a hip to the side.

McGee, having gotten the information they needed, was tapping furiously at his omni-tool as he came back to their table. "Got the security footage. Looks like there was a near mid air collision outside when the body was thrown through the window. I'll need to take this back to Abby's lab since the network's old and outdated. The best I have right now is a dark blue blur as it tries to maneuver away from the other vehicle coming the other way. The body flies out the back as the vehicle in question swerves out of the way at the last possible second."

"Probably a truck or a semi of some kind then. Am I right? Am I right or am I right?" Dax asked, grinning widely as he waited for someone to confirm his guess.

Gibbs was less than impressed at his guesswork as he walked away, leaving the turian to stare at the man's back. "You find out for sure, then you can talk Agent Dax." He called back with the full intent to get himself a cup of coffee.

"Was it somethin' I said?" Dax asked once Gibbs was out of sight, confused as to why the former marine had walked off so suddenly.

"Ah, I wouldn't read too much into it Daxio, but Gibbs is right about one thing. If you're going to work for this team, you'll want to learn to keep mere guesswork to yourself. We deal only in facts, but you'll learn I'm sure. You're a smart man, or you wouldn't be here." Ducky answered as he and Hamu began to prepare their guest for transport. Dax stood silently by as he pondered over what the man said.


Earth, USA, Washington

Washington D.C., ACIS office bullpen, Ballistics Lab

March 7th, 2195, 9:19 PM

"You know Abby, I can't help but marvel at your tattoos and the dog collar around your neck." Athame said as she looked up from the badge they'd been given by Gibbs and the team. The goth smirked but didn't say anything as she took a sip from the highly caffeinated drink she had in front of her. "You're one of the smartest people I've ever met, yet you don't look like you belong here at all. I look at you and all I can think about are those old vampire movies from your people's 21st century film archives."

"Met a lot of techs in your one hundred plus years Athame?" Abby asked in turn, and chuckled as her partner rolled her eyes with a soft laugh. She'd heard such comments before, but Abby wasn't offended, and was all too happy to talk about her preferred look. "You're hardly the first person to say that, but it's just what I feel comfortable in. Besides, I'd call myself plain ol regular Abby."

"Can't argue with someone who feels comfortable in their own skin." Athame conceded with a nod of her purple, high crested head. "I wish more people were of a similar mind, maybe we'd have less trouble to contend with on a regular basis."

"While I agree with you Athame," Abby began as she waved her hands about at eye level, "we'd also be out of a job if there were less need for people like us."

"Meh, sad but true. Guess we have to endure more trouble together then."

"Sounds like a plan!" Abby cheered as she raised a fist into the air, earning another, louder, laugh from the asari a stone's throw away. The sound of her terminal beeping drew her gaze to the monitor, and Abby began tapping furiously at the keyboard. "Whoa. I just got the lab results back on our victim's blood and it says here she was drugged. Judging by the chemical composition, I'd say it was some kind of truth serum, a pretty potent one too although considering whoever our bad guys were likely getting ready to dispose of her, that's not surprising."

"And why's that?" Gibbs asked as he seemed to appear out of thin air behind the two women. Athame jumped as a barely controlled wave of dark energy coalesced around her, but Abby beamed as she hugged Gibbs around the waist with a cry of joy. "Missed you too Abs." The former marine grunted from the strength of her enthusiastic embrace.

"Sorry." Abby apologized as she jumped back, content now that she'd seen for herself Gibbs was still okay after heading to a new crime scene. "After the last time you guys left and got shot at by ExoGeni's thugs, I worry ya know?" Gibbs knew but didn't say anything as he glanced towards the flashing word on Abby's machine. With a grin, she turned and began to tap at the keyboard again. "'Whaddya got Abs?', is usually what you say at this point."

"I was just waiting on you to get there first."

"It helps I can read your mind. But as I was telling Athame, it looks like our friend in Ducky's morgue, might have been drugged with a powerful truth serum, designed to bypass a salarian's hyperactive metabolic system. Since they have a much higher metabolic rate than any other species on record, it makes sense someone would use a drug like this if they were after information."

"What they were after or if they even got it is up in the air, but I'd be willing to bet they might have gotten frustrated with her resistance." Athame stated as she calmed and relaxed before holding up her right hand, where she summoned a ball of dark energy that swirled and danced between her upraised fingers. "If she really was killed by a biotic, then it makes sense if she fought them as best she could and they killed her out of anger because of it. As you no doubt saw, biotic power can be activated without a conscience desire to do so if we're startled or angered to a high enough degree."

"Thanks. I'll be downstairs you find anything else."

"Found something!" Abby called out, grinning to herself as Gibbs turned right back around, a light chuckle escaping him as she gestured to the fingerprint scan she'd been running that had only just completed itself. "I found a match. Meet Hirsum Olbana."


Earth, USA, Washington

Washington D.C., ACIS, Office Bullpen

March 7th, 2195, 9;02 PM

"Hirsum Olbana, forty-seven years old, formerly employed by the Alliance Geological Service which would explain the security badge we found. Her friends at the office said she hadn't come in for work this morning and that the last few days she'd been real agitated, more so than usual at least." Tony stated as he clicked through the various bits of her life that he'd been able to uncover. "From what I could find out, she also did a lot of good work in relocating refugees from the war and helping them establish new lives across the galaxy. Another of the Sirta Foundation's good works, these guys seem to be everywhere these days."

"It's no wonder because they're a truly noble organization unlike their former business rivals, the ExoGeni corporation who would have likely cut every corner they could during the rebuilding efforts of the colonies." Ziva cut in as she snatched the mouse away from Tony's grasp before clicking onto a new page, this one showing a picture of a human in an Alliance officer uniform. "Her supervisor, a Hernandez Alleron, fifty six years old, dishonorably discharged for abandoning his post during the last stages of the Reaper War. I got in contact with some of his men and they all said that he was an 'armchair commander'."

"Means he preferred to let his men do all the work while he took all the credit from a secured location, probably underground and halfway across the planet." Tony explained as he made to grab the mouse back, but Ziva's well placed elbow in his still healing ribs made him groan and wince as he took a step back.

Smiling victoriously, Ziva continued with what she'd found. "Hernandez was apparently out of the office about the same time Hirsum went missing, but like her, his coworkers suggested that he'd been out of sorts these last few days as well. Shall I bring him in Gibbs?"

"Not just yet." Gibbs replied softly as he looked towards McGee's desk only to find it was empty. "Where's McGee?"

"Here!" McGee called out as he came out of the bathroom on the other end of the office before skidding to a halt in front of Gibbs' desk. "While I was in the head, I got a message from Abby's lab. We have a much better picture of the getaway video." A few rapid taps at the omni-tool on his arm, and McGee took over the central monitor as the image from outside the Twins Jazz club appeared. The blue blur was an Alliance Geological Service branded vehicle that matched the symbol on Hirsum's badge to a tee. The back passenger side door was partially opened which allowed the body to fall out when the van narrowly avoided slamming into another vehicle going the other way. "The timestamp matches up with what witnesses reported back at the club. At exactly seven this evening, Hirsum came crashing through the window and the AGeS vehicle was spotted heading deeper into the city, blowing through the redlight west of the club."

"Now can I bring him in?" Ziva asked again now that they had more evidence to go on.

"McGee, Dax, go with her." Gibbs ordered at last before turning his gaze on Tony. "You and me are going to home in the city." With that, Gibbs started for the door with Tony following right on his heels.

"Road trip, cool." Dax cheered until he saw Ziva snatch the car keys from McGee. "Oh crap. I immediately regret my decision."

"What happened to you being big and manly?" Ziva asked as her smile took on a mischievous edge.

"Little thing really, called survival instinct." Dax shot back without missing a beat. "Because there is driving and then there is that thing that you do."